What Happened First
by girl with the far away eyes
Summary: This is how everyone got together in the first place. The story before the Broadway show.
1. Chapter 1

Maureen set down her glass and looked at her watch. 7:00 pm. She looked around for the waiter so that she could pay. He was showing a large group of people into their seats. She tapped her fingers on the table impatiently. Unfortunately, the family consisted of small children and older people that held up the crowd as they piled into the restaurant.

She stood up. When nobody stopped her, she walked as fast as she could to the door and exited into the cold winter air.

Her apartment was completely empty when she got home. She took a beer out f the fridge and opened it on the bottle opener that was so often used.

She stepped out of the open window onto the fire escape and watched the action below her on the street: There were some police harassing an old woman sleeping next to the trash cans. Behind the police, listening to everything they said, was Mark.

"Hey Mark!" she called down to him. He looked up at her and waved. Then hushed her with a sweep of his hand and pointed to the police. Ignoring this she yelled, "Come up here I want to talk to you!"

Mark paused then reluctantly, he turned toward the apartment. Maureen ran back inside, grabbed a pair of keys off the table and ran back outside. Mark was waiting for her. She threw the keys down at him and he, like always, missed them. He disappeared underneath her and after a while she heard the keys in the door. She waited by the door until he was all the way in and then she kissed him. He looked a little surprised, but happy, his glasses a little lop-sided.

"Hi Maureen." He said blushing. "You said you wanted to speak to me."

"No I just wanted to…" she paused in search for a better word. "Take advantage of us being alone without Roger or Benny." Mark thought about what she had said for a while then understanding jumped onto his face.

"I don't know Maureen. I have work to do. I hear the police are in the park again …" He drifted off as she closed in on him.

"Mark you can't have an excuse now! Come on. Roger is never out of the house. We won't have another chance for a while." She pushed him against the wall and started at his neck. A clearing of a throat interrupted them and the looked behind them. Roger was standing in the door way with a funny grin on his face.

"Oh sorry am I interrupting?" He asked with fake surprise. Mark looked startled and embarrassed

"We didn't…I didn't…Were you… You were…" mark stuttered, but Maureen cut him off,

"Yes you were interrupting. Why are you home? You are supposed to with Benny… Where is Benny?"

"I don't know where he is. And I didn't feel like leaving today. I'm too tired." Roger walked back into his bedroom and Mark and Maureen heard him lay back down. They rolled their eyes at each other and sat down on the couch.

"I wish we had a TV." said Mark, voicing what the four room mates had been wishing since they had bought the apartment together. But that was before Roger had turned into…well…a house slob.

The door banged open and Benny came in. He threw himself on the couch next to Maureen. He put his legs across hers and took a drink of her beer.

"Hey get your own!" Maureen snapped and grabbed her beer out of his mouth causing liquid to trickle down his face.

"God Maureen! What's up with you? Any way. I don't think we will have enough money to buy beers for to much longer." He rushed the last sentence hoping that they wouldn't hear it.

Mark and Maureen jumped up. Even Roger reacted. They heard a bang in the other room and Roger came running out of the room.

"What d you mean no more money!" Rogers face was red. Benny stood up and yelled just as loudly,

"Maybe if I wasn't the only one working, then we wouldn't be so fucking poor!" Roger was taken aback by Benny. Every one usually treated Roger with sympathy and never yelled at him or talked to him harshly, especially Benny. "And any way, now none of us have a job. I got fired." Benny clapped his hand over his mouth.

_Shit! I am such an idiot. Where is that whole speech I rehearsed over the walk here. Now Maureen is going to have a cow, no not a cow a freaking elephant!Yep. Look at that. Her face is turning red, here it comes, and she's going to explode. 1, 2, 3... _

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU GOT FIRED BENJAMIN COFFIN THE THIRD!" Maureen slapped him. He backed up into Roger, but not even Roger was going to help him. "Do you know how much trouble it took me to get you that job? I had to call so many people, and that cost money! Then I had to show you where the office was, taking time out of my day, when I could have been working on my new protest! What is wrong with you?" She opened her mouth again, but didn't say anything, just gave him a look to kill and sat down in the middle of the couch, Mark making way for her ahead of time. Even though she was the only woman, she ruled the three men.

Everyone was silent for a while, watching Maureen, afraid that she would explode. Finally,

"So, why were you fired anyway?" Maureen glared at Benny. Benny leaped into an explanation,

"Well you see my boss has had it in for me from the beginning and today when I was flirting with one of the girls I worked with and he freaked out. He said that I wasn't to 'fornicate' on the job. He mad to big of a deal out of it. What does fornicate even mean?" Maureen didn't relinquish her gaze on Benny, and eventually he fell back.

"So how are we going to get money now? Anyone know?" She looked around at the other men. Roger shrugged and went back to his room. Mark looked at her like a hurt puppy dog. "It's all right Mark. I know you're working on your script writing." Then she turned back to Benny. "So what are you going to do? You have a good plan Benny or I swear I'll-"

"I have a job interview tomorrow." Benny said quickly.

"Oh good. We should get you lawyer. I'll go to the court house, right now." Maureen said in a much more cheerful voice. She grabbed her coat and gave Mark a look. "Well, are you coming with me?" Mark started.

"Yeah sure."

"Wait Why do I need lawyer. I've been to a lot of interviews. I don't need help from a lawyer." Maureen turned on him. "Or it might help me seem like I am more devoted to my o or something. I'll see you I a little while." Maureen and Mark left.


	2. Chapter 2

Mark and Maureen walked down the sidewalk hand in hand. They were a funny couple. Maureen was tall and thin, with long wavy black hair, down to the middle of her back. She walked with a tall proud stature, and as they passed groups of boys, they whistled at her. She didn't tell them to stop, she smiled and waved at them. Mark walked next to her silently and shy. he was a few inches shorter Maureen, with spiked blond hair and glasses. But no matter how different they were, they loved each other.

When they reached town, Mark asked, "So where should we go first?" Maureen shrugged

"Well we could go get Benny a lawyer for the interviews first and see what they say. Mark nodded and let Maureen drag him to the courthouse.

There was a group of people out front, laughing and talking about something. Maureen let go of Marks hand and pushed her way through the crowd. There was a man banging on the courthouse door yelling indistinctly. The people in the crowd were laughing and pointing. Maureen turned to Mark and said, "Well...are you going to do something?"

Mark looked at his feet then said, "Well, what could I do?" Maureen glared at Mark then cut her way through the crowd to the man who had now fallen to his knees and was crying. She put her arm around him and whispered,

"Hi there, I'm Maureen. Whats your name?" The man looked at her and said softly,

"Tom."

"Hi Tom. Come with me, I'll get you cleaned up. Come on." She pulled Tom to his feet and started to drag him away from the door. The crowd was still laughing at the poor man, so Maureen stopped and glared at them. "SHUT UP! What is your problem. This man is upset and all you do is stand there stupidly and laugh. Were you raised in a pigsty?" the crowd went silent and slowly, one by one, they left.

She gave Mark a significant look and Mark ran over to help her. He grabbed one arm and put it over his head. Tom was sobbing into Maureen's shoulder.

Mark looked very uncomfortable pulling Tom down the streets. People backed out of their way as the three of them went as fast as they could in the direction of the apartment. When they got to the phone booth in front of the apartment, Mark called Roger to throw down the keys.

The apartment was dark when they finally got Tom up the stairs. They lay him on the couch. He had stopped crying, but he looked to weak to do anything. Roger came out of his room to see what was going on. He stopped when he saw Tom.

"Whats wrong with him?" Roger asked, not sounding as if he cared at all.

"We don't know. We found him at the courthouse, and brought him back here."

"Well we don't have any room for him to stay here, so what are you planning on doing with him?" Roger looked like the only thing he wanted to see happen, was for Tom to leave, so he could have the couch.

"Roger! We have enough room for him! He can sleep in your room." Maureen said, slapping Roger on the side of the head. Roger rubbed the place where she had hit. He opened his mouth as if to retort, but thinking otherwise, he closed it again.

Alright he can stay for tonight, but just tonight. We'll find somewhere else for him tomorrow.

Maureen and Mark exchanged exasperated looks as they often did when Roger acted like this. Roger backed into his bedroom and closed the door.

"Sorry about him. He really is a sweet guy. It has just been hard for him lately." Maureen went to the refrigerator and took out two beers. She sat down next to Collins on the couch. She held out the beer. At first Tom didn't react. He sat there and looked at the coffee table. But he finally reached out and took the beer.

"Are you going to be okay in Roger's room?" Maureen whispered. Tom scared her a little.

"Can I just stay here? Please?" Tom grabbed the pillow and hugged it. He buried his face in it and started to shake. He didn't make any noise. He just sat there. Maureen and Mark looked at each other awkwardly.

Mark edged slowly toward his bedroom door. Maureen waited for Mark to disapear into his room before she stood up. She stood in front of Tom, and felt a tear run down her face. Everything that had happened with Roger, and Benny, everything she felt was shown in this man sitting in front of him. And with that thought, she went to her room without a word.


	3. Chapter 3

Tom awoke to Maureen and Benny talking.

"So?"

"So what?"

"How are you going to act? What are you going to say? You have to win her over some how." Maureen helped Benny into his overcoat.

"Oh, I thought that I would just seduce her with my good looks, and see where it went from there." Maureen stopped and glared at Benny. "I'm kidding. God Maureen, I'm not that bad. I know how to win a new boss over. Leave me alone." Benny slipped on a hat and opened the door. "Come one, let's go." Maureen followed him out, still nagging him about the interview.

Tom sat up. His back was sore from sleeping on a hard surface. He rubbed his eyes. His eyes still felt stiff and swollen. He squinted at the window. There was something outside, but he couldn't make it out. He rubbed his eyes again and looked harder. It was a girl staring back at him. She smiled.

She looked down to the lock on the window door, and then looked back at him. Without even thinking about it, Tom stood up and walked to the window. There was a key sitting on the window seat, and used it to unlock the window.

The girl stepped in, followed by a gust of cold wind. Tom shut it quickly.

"Hello." the girl said. Her voice was a little lower than a usual girls voice. Her eyes sparkled at Tom, and at first he didn't know what to say. Her face intrigued him. She looked like she could be around 16 to 20. So he wasn't sure how old she was.

She was wearing a black dress that was way too short for a 16 year old, so he decided to go with 20. Her black hair fell across her face, but he could still see the red of her cheeks from being outside.

"Hi." The girl held out her hand. "I'm Mimi. And you are..."

"Um- Collins- Tom. sorry. Tom"

"What is it, Tom or Collins?" Mimi laughed.

"My name is Tom Collins." Tom felt a blush rise to his cheeks and he turned to the refrigerator. "Would you like a coke or something?"

"A beer would be great." Mimi laid down on the couch and put her feet on the coffee table. Tom looked at her.

"Um. How old are you?"

Mimi laughed. "Old enough. and besides, who ever followed that rule anyways?" Tom didn't say anything. Instead he grabbed 2 beers and closed the refrigerator door. He sat down next to Mimi and handed her the beer. Mimi twisted the cap off and took a drink. "So what are you doing here anyways?"

"What?" Tom was confused.

"Well you don't live here." Mimi set down her drink on the table.

"Oh. I am staying here for a little while. Maureen invited me."

"Oh. Maureen is too nice for her own good. Soon she will start taking bums off the street and having them stay here." Mimi laughed again. Tom didn't mention that he had been that such bum off the street.

"So, Tom. How did you end up living with these people?" Mimi pointed behind her at the apartment. Tom thought. He didnt especially want to get into the conversation about his life story with a complete stranger.

"Just needed a place to stay that's all."

"Really? What happened to your old home?" Tom realized that this woman was not the kind of person who was going to be polite and not ask personal questions. He couldn't keep anything from her. He liked that. This was the start to a great friendship


End file.
